Page 7

B eneath the striped awning overhanging the sidewalk at Café Du Monde, I stuffed my face with hot, pillowy dough while waiting on Kierce to return with his oysters. I had already sent Pascal back to Vi’s with takeout for Jean-Claude, Josie, and yes, even Rollo. As much as I didn’t want to part from Pascal, he convinced me to let him book a Swyft on Matty’s phone then showed the text conversation promising Josie would meet him at the curb to help him bring up the food while it was hot and fresh.

About to dust the resulting white powder off my shirt, I jumped when my phone rang. I had forgotten how much coffee I tended to drink when I was visiting, and how jittery it made me, but everything tasted better in New Orleans.

“Hey. Carter.” I wiped sugar off my hands onto my thighs, but I still left behind fingerprints. “How’s it going?”

“Your sister isn’t returning my texts.”

“So not great.”

“She also won’t answer my calls.”

“She mentioned something about not being your girlfriend or needing your permission to live her life.”

“I didn’t mean she should run off half-cocked without telling me. I meant she was free to enjoy herself. That she doesn’t have to run every damn thing she does past me.”

“Well…”

“She sent me a picture of her sticking out her tongue like she was about to lick the Bourbon Street sign. Until that exact moment, I had no idea she was even in New Orleans. She didn’t mention it, or the tip on Matty’s possible location.” A low growl vibrated my ear. I couldn’t tell if it was for Josie, for not updating her, or for me. Also for not updating her. “She was wearing a string bikini, heels, and foam. Fucking foam, Frankie.”

Soap, actually. I knew a guy who mixed batches for clubs. Though I don’t think this was one of those times where sharing a fun factoid would de-escalate the situation.

“I was not aware she had done a photoshoot, but that’s very Josie.” I should have been more suspicious when Josie and Pascal hit Bourbon Street on our first night, but even without an agenda, she would have called dibs. “I don’t know what you want.”

“I don’t know what I want either.”

“That’s definitely a problem.” I was glad she couldn’t see the face I was making. “Are you sure you’re not dating Josie?”

“I made it plain from the start I had no interest in a relationship.”

“And she’s made it plain she wants to get naked with you.”

“Are you telling me I should have sex with your sister to get me out of her system?”

“I try not to think about my sister having sex, so no. All I’m saying is, if you don’t want her, then you need to do yourself a favor and pack her up while she’s gone. Leave her things at the shop. I’ll give you a code to get into my office.” I lamented only having crumbs left in the bottom of my bag. I could have used a distraction to get through this conversation. “Make a clean break.”

“She can’t go back to her apartment.”

“She can room with me, or we’ll rent her an apartment until she’s ready to move home.”

“I have the space, and I don’t need the money. It makes more sense for her to stay with me.”

“Financially, yes. Emotionally? No. Keep going like this, and one of you is going to get hurt.”

And, as much as I liked Carter, as much as Carter had tried to do right by Josie, Josie was still my sister.

“Yeah.” Her voice grew rough with emotions I wasn’t about to attempt labeling. “You’re right.”

“However, if you do give my sister the boot, please don’t tell her I gave you the idea.”

With a snort, the redcap ended the call, leaving me torn on the advice I had given.

Had Kierce not chosen that moment to appear, I might have called her back, but he did, and I didn’t.

Because he wasn’t alone, and I don’t just mean Badb sitting on his shoulder with a purloined oyster.

Harrow was with him.

Here.

In New Orleans.

Mouth falling open, I walked into the street to meet them, stunned at the man who had invited himself along.

“Frankie Talbot,” he purred, his eyes golden and glimmering.

Pretty sure my heart skipped a beat before it got back with the program.

“You—” I checked with Kierce, whose wary expression didn’t comfort, “—are not Harrow.”

“I required a body to travel the distance to you,” the Not-Harrow said without batting an eye, but I could tell there were other reasons too. “You did not seem to like this one much, so I borrowed him.”

No, no, no.

This was not happening. Not now. I didn’t have time for more divine shenanigans.

“You stole Harrow’s body.” I wadded up the bag, wishing it was Anunit’s throat I was crushing in my fist. “That’s not…” I groaned a miserable noise. “He’s a cop . You can’t steal a cop. Other cops will notice and come looking for him.”

No wonder she had been so taken with him that day in my office. She wanted to try him on and see if he suited her. And I had given her the perfect excuse to give him a test-drive by leaving her in Thunderbolt.

“Ah.” She tipped her head to one side. “A law enforcer.”

“Yes.” I pinched my eyes shut but was afraid to lose sight of her. “Can we do this later?”

“Do you have food?” She scratched her stomach. “This body is hungry.”

A hungry predator was threat enough to send Badb sailing off with her oyster clutched in her claws.

“Good Lord.” I did not need this complication. “How did you get him to New Orleans anyway?”

“I told him where to go.” She said it matter-of-factly, as if that explained anything.

For all I knew, she kidnapped him from work, pointed him in the right direction, and told him to start walking.

“I must remain close to you, Frankie Talbot,” she continued, “until you are ready to assume your duties.”

“Perhaps Anunit could instruct you for an hour before dusk,” Kierce suggested, trying to keep the peace until we could contain the problem, aka, Anunit. “We can only hunt Matty at night.”

“A hunt?” Her smile gleamed bright in the early-morning sun. “I like this idea.”

“Not a hunt-hunt,” I rushed to explain. “We came here to find my brother’s soul. We located it last night, but we had no luck convincing him to leave with us. We’ll have to return to Ursulines Avenue tonight, see if he comes around again, then try to contain him until we figure out how to fix him.”

“This body knows about your Matty,” she hummed. “Have you determined the cause of his affliction?”

“No.” I booked us a ride, paying an extra fee for a larger vehicle because it was closer. I wanted Anunit inside the wards so she couldn’t escape with Harrow in tow while we figured out what to do about her situation. “We came for my brother, but my mentor is in a similar condition. We’re staying at her home, with her family. You’re welcome to room there too, but we’ll need to find another host for you.”

Anunit made an unhappy noise but submitted to the car ride. She behaved herself until we reached the house on Chartres, and I escorted her past the wards with a sigh of relief and a quick prayer she couldn’t use her bond with me to slip through every time I left the premises.

“Oh good.” Jean-Claude waited outside the elevator. “I was wondering when y’all would get here.”

Which meant the goodwill I had purchased with breakfast had run out, and now he was getting antsy for an update on our progress.

“Got any more of those beignets?” I noticed him noticing Anunit. “My friend here is hungry.”

“You look like that boy that done broke Frankie’s heart.” Jean-Claude studied him. “Why’re you here?”

“I needed a body,” Anunit told him baldly. “I chose this one, but Frankie Talbot says I must give it back.”

Head tilting to one side, Jean-Claude examined her, his eyes going out of focus. “Good God.”

“I was a good god to my people,” she said, mimicking his head tilt. “Does that count?”

“Jean-Claude, this is Anunit, Eater of Moons, Mother of Darkness.” I saw when the name hit him upside the head, striking him mute. “Anunit, this is Jean-Claude Dancosse.”

With introductions out of the way, I crammed everyone in the elevator then hustled them into the living room. There were additional protections on the upper level stemming from how often Vi entertained loa in her home, and I wanted Anunit as contained as I could get her.

From what I could tell, we had beat Rollo in. I had hoped to use his absence as an excuse to avoid going over the chilling details of learning Vi’s soul was trapped in that damn parade, but Jean-Claude wasn’t the patient type except with, well, patients.

The story came tumbling out, along with the bargain with Pierre, and Jean-Claude simply nodded along.

Only after I was done sharing all we knew did he seem to blink free of his silent contemplation.

“So, Anunit.” Pascal gawked at Anunit from the far corner of the living room. “You eat people.”

“People eat animals.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “What is the difference?”

“I don’t see much of one myself,” Jean-Claude said abstractly, “but you know how humans are.”

The room fell silent as everyone absorbed that the doctor among us was cool with eating people.

From deep inside Harrow’s body, undeterred, Anunit gave a thoughtful hum of agreement.

“You’re not human?” Pascal plastered himself to my side, like he wasn’t an oddity himself. A spirit stuck in a body that didn’t belong to him. “What are you?”

“Something older than you,” Jean-Claude answered dryly, “and meaner than you.”

Even after the time I spent living next door to him, laughing and cutting up with him, I had never pinpointed his faction.

“Can you fix something for Anunit to eat?” I aimed the question at him. “I need to go make a call.”

The only way to avoid a total disaster when we arrived home in Thunderbolt was to get ahead of this mess now.

“Sure thing.” Jean-Claude gestured her into the kitchen. “You like raw or waved over the flames?”

Hoping they meant steak and not people, I left him to handle that problem while I dialed Carter.

“You must be psychic.” She picked up on the first ring. “I was about to text you.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with your missing partner, would it?”

“Fucking hell, Frankie.” Carter growled a string of choice words. “What do you know about it?”

“Uh, well, you see…” I twirled my wrist, searching for the right combination of words to make Harrow’s situation sound better, but I came up empty. “He’s here. Anunit showed up, um, wearing him. But he’s fine. Totally fine. As soon as I figure out where to put her, I’ll get her out of him.”

“Is this a Matty-type situation?” She strove for calm. “Explain it to me.”

“A dead goddess took over his body, so that makes it a possession? I think? I’m not really sure.”

“Of course she did.” Her sigh whistled in my ear. “Update me when you get it sorted.”

Optimistic of her to assume I could sort it, but that was a problem for tomorrow’s Frankie.

“That went about as well as could be expected,” I reported to Kierce, who had probably overheard the highlights. “I don’t think she realized exactly how missing Harrow was until I told her he was here.”

“Poor guy.” Pascal snickered as he glanced toward the kitchen. “Karma is kicking his ass.”

“Josie did promise to make him regret ever meeting me, but that was years ago.” I drew a check mark in the air. “Still. Mission accomplished, I guess?”

Glee bright in his eyes, Pascal sneaked away to update Josie on the latest catastrophe to befall Harrow.

“Any idea who or what we can stick Anunit in for the time being?” I pivoted toward Kierce. “Do you think I can put her in an animal? That’s much less invasive than the alternative.” I dropped my arm. “But then it sounds like I’m okay with the loss of free will for nonhuman hosts, which I’m not, but?—”

Before I could get even more tongue-tied, Kierce pulled me against him. “I understand.”

“I’m glad one of us does.” I mashed my face into his shirt. “Nothing makes sense anymore.”

“I’m sorry.” He stroked down my spine, his gentle touch surer than it once was. “Gods thrive in chaos.”

“I’m starting to see that.” I let him hold me for a minute longer. “Even if they can’t feed on it like Ankou, I…” I let the thought drift, unfinished, wheels in my head turning. “Do you think he could be involved?”

Everywhere I turned lately, there was Ankou. Even banished from this realm, he crept into my dreams.

“The fear and grief from you and Josie alone would make a tempting meal for him.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“Bacchus, if that’s who we’re dealing with, has a long history of animosity with Ankou’s god. Ankou had a hand in killing one of Bacchus’s favorite lovers a few decades ago. As far as I know, Ankou hasn’t been to New Orleans since. He’s too afraid the god will kill him or that someone will cash in on the bounty on his head. He’s worth his weight in gold bars.”

If a god was responsible for the parade, hope for a quick resolution fizzled. “I’ll add that to my mental list of reasons why moving to New Orleans isn’t a terrible idea.”

To be free of Ankou? That would be worth starting over from scratch.

But I had a funny feeling he would find workarounds to get to me.

Kierce withdrew to stare down at me, his eyes the soft gray of rolling fog. “Is that a possibility?”

Drawn from my thoughts, I admitted, “It’s always been my contingency plan.”

That didn’t mean I wanted to leave Thunderbolt. I would miss Bonaventure like a phantom limb. Plus, the loss of the business, particularly the other family business, and our home. No. I didn’t want to leave Georgia. But I had to keep my options open in order to protect my family. Not that I was doing a great job of it lately.

Pretty sure the adamantine wall of my guilt was the only reason Ankou hadn’t invited himself into my dreams lately. He probably slammed into it face-first every time he tried to pester me.

“You should rest.” Kierce brushed his lips over mine, his cheeks flushing when I grinned up at him like an idiot. I was doing my best not to project sex-starved-maniac vibes at him, but it was hard keeping a PG relationship after I’d had a taste of him. The only thing keeping me from taking a whole bite was guilt. As much as I enjoyed watching Kierce unravel, I was tied up in knots over the state of my brother’s soul. “I’ll see what I can do about a host for Anunit.”

The urge to protest balanced on the tip of my tongue, and I realized I was afraid of letting him out of my sight. I think I had been since we met Pierre. But Kierce was a grown man. And god-adjacent. He could take care of himself.

So why did my stomach drop into my toes when he walked out the door?